For the ancient Greek audience, the fate of

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1 The Royal Line of Thebes For the ancient Greek audience, the fate of Antigone would have been common knowledge. The tragic poets took their stories from mythology. The characters on the stage were the men, women and gods from a far-off time, but the ancient Greeks had an especially close relationship with history and an appreciation for their own mythology. Antigone was born into a great, but cursed family. Her father was Oedipus, son of Laius and Jocasta, the rulers of Thebes, who were warned in prophecy that their son would murder his father and marry his mother. Although they took steps to prevent it, the prophecy eventually came to pass. Once he learned of his fate, King Oedipus blinded himself and left the city of Thebes in disgrace. His sons, Eteocles and Polyneices were elected corulers of the city and agreed to reign in alternate years. As the story of Antigone begins, a bloody battle has been waged in Thebes. Polyneices led an army against Eteocles, who Sorrows of the dead are heaped on sorrows of the living. Sorrows of the living are heaped on sorrows of the dead. Generation cannot be freed by generation. But each is undeliverable, stricken by some god. Chorus, Antigone refused to relinquish the throne at the end of his first term. Both brothers were killed in the battle, and Antigone s uncle, Creon, declared himself King. As his first act of government Creon issued an edict declaring Polyneices a traitor and forbidding any person from burying his corpse. Antigone must choose whether to obey her King or bury her brother. Jennifer Kiger Ares m. Aphrodite Agenor Harmonica m. Cadmus (Founder of Thebes) Polydorus Semele m. Zeus Labdacus Menoeceus Dionysus Laius m. Jocasta m. Oedipus Creon m. Eurydice Eteocles Polyneices Ismene Antigone King of Thebes in Italics Haemon Megareus Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P3

2 Doing Justice to Antigone by Brendan Kennelly While writing Antigone I noticed that the characters seemed to come more and more alive with each re-writing, as if, in this play where people are constantly judging others and being in turn constantly judged, they wish themselves and what they believe and do to be properly understood, to be accurately evaluated, to have justice done to them. Justice is of paramount importance in Antigone and it is frequently in conflict with reality. I would define justice as a vision of what should prevail; reality I would define as the knowledge of what does prevail. Antigone is in the grip of her vision of justice and she wants to make it reality. Creon, too, is in the grip of his vision and he is determined to make it prevail. But Antigone s vision of justice, love and loyalty is not Creon s. We have a conflict of visions, a conflict of two passionate people, two living hearts, brought about, perhaps ironically, by the dead Polyneices, or rather by attitudes among the living to the burial or nonburial of the corpse. Behind these conflicting attitudes are a number of histories: histories of family relationships, of personal values, of civil stability, of political change, of the growth of power and effective government, of ideas concerning what actually constitutes civilised living. These histories are like insistent, vigorous ghosts haunting every word that the characters say. This is a truly haunted play; the presence of the dead in the hearts and minds of the living is a fierce, driving and endlessly powerful force. This presence haunts the language and makes it, at certain moments, tremble with a peculiar intensity. At the end, one is left with more questions than answers. What is the deepest source of Antigone s passion? What was Polyneices like? Why does Antigone feel with such unquestioning and unquestionable intensity about him? Are love and loyalty one and the same? What is Creon s concept of loyalty? What is Ismene s? What is Tiresias s? Haemon s? What is the influence of the dead on the living? I m sure there are many people today who would reply very little influence very little indeed. But there are others who would reply in a very different vein. This version of Antigone tries to be true, to be loyal to my understanding of the Greek world; but it must also be loyal to my experience of life in Ireland, in the modern world. We are all both limited and stimulated by such experience. Family life. Brothers and sisters. Fathers and mothers. Moments of love and hate. Public life. Governments. Politicians. Rulers. People making speeches. People interested in power. People whose hearts and minds are moulded by power. People who betray, conspire and manipulate in order to achieve power. So, in any serious, sustained attempt to translate a play like Antigone, the conflict between the past and the present in the mind of the translator is as real as any conflict in the play itself. We are all, to some extent, creatures of conflict and, when we come to use words, we struggle to be true to our experience and understanding of that conflict. Conflict is served by the language it creates. The ancient, original Greek infiltrates life in modern Ireland. In many ways, the past shapes and directs the present. The past educates and enlightens the present. The present selects from that education, that enlightenment, and makes its own way forward, as we all must, into a future that can be known only by experiencing it, and then only partially, depending on our willingness to give ourselves with whatever passion we are capable of into the arms of every moment that is waiting to be lived. Antigone lives with passion because of her loyalty to, and love for the dead. But in living out her love for her dead brother she loses her love for Haemon, her living lover, Creon s son. There is a conflict between the claim of a dead brother and a living lover. This conflict is resolved in a black hole among the rocks. Or is it? Will the consequences of what happens in that black hole resonate among the unborn, the Antigones, Creons and Haemons of the future? The present is soon past. The future becomes the present. The mills of consequence grind on. Even now, after many re-writings, the more I think about this play the more questions present themselves. That fact is, perhaps, the truest testimony to the strange complexity and enduring attraction of Antigone. Excerpted from the end notes to Brendan Kennelly s Antigone, published by Bloodaxe Books, Ltd., Northumberland, P4 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

3 The Funeral Rite: Family Duties and the Afterlife The ancient Greeks had distinct methods of burial, and it was often believed if you were not provided a proper burial along with the appropriate rituals, you were destined to suffer between worlds until your rites of passage into the underworld were completed. In classical Greece the burial rituals consisted of three parts. First there was I shall vanish and be no more But the land over which I now roam Shall remain And change not. Warrior song of the Hethúshka Society prosthesis, or laying out of the body. The women washed, anointed, dressed, crowned, covered the body and adorned it with flowers. The mouth and eyes were shut to prevent the psyche (phantom or soul) from leaving the body before receiving the proper burial rites and the corpse was dressed in a long, anklelength garment. The body was presented so it could be viewed for two days. At the viewings, the mour-ners dressed in black in honor of the deceased and the women stood at the head of the couch to grieve and sing while the men stood with their palms out to the gods. When it came time for the burial, before the dawn of the third day, the body was taken to the tomb by cart. The men led the procession and the women followed. At the internment, the corpse or ashes were placed in the tomb along with the grave goods of pottery, jewels, vases or other personal property. Along with these gifts, offerings of fruit were made and the mourners sang and danced. Beginning in Classical times [in the era when Sophocles wrote Antigone] there came to be a concept of punishment after death or a state of blessedness. The soul responsible for a person s personality and moral decisions received eternal punishment or bliss for the choices of the human form. The burial rituals perhaps spawned this belief that the soul must be guided to the afterlife. If the body was not given a proper burial, according to Greek ritual, the soul would remain trapped between the worlds of the living and the underworld. Excerpted from Kristina Bagwell s Burial Rituals and the Afterlife of Ancient Greece Left, the Northeast wind and the West wind carry away the dead body of a young soldier to his grave. Above, the goddess Athene stands in sorrow over a monument to the Athenian dead. Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P5

4 Antigone in America Antigone holds the pride of place for being the very first Greek tragedy ever offered as a commercial venture in this country. In 1845 a New York businessman, hoping to inaugurate the production of serious drama in a city then delighting in melodrama and spectacle, chose to mount Sophocles play as his initial offering. Thus did Mr. Dinneford rent Palmo s Opera House and open with Antigone on 7 April In spite of the preshow publicity and anticipation, the play did not delight its audience. Albion s reviewer, writing on 12 April 1845, could not hide the show s failure. Although done in a style of classical elegance that should have insured the representation perfect success, the play was coldly received. The critic suggested first of all that the physical setting of the indoor chamber theatre was not suited for Greek tragedy, which was created to be performed outside in vast open spaces. Second, he blamed both the actors, unused to speaking in a tragic style, and an audience, unused to hearing it, for the show s lack of popularity. Finally, Miss Clarendon, playing the title role, was disappointing. She was not able to grasp the character of the noble and devoted Antigone. Thus despite Dinneford s reduction of the ticket price, the curtain fell on the production after barely two weeks. New York City was not to see another Antigone for well over a century. At the 1946 staging of Anouilh s Antigone, most drama critics were reluctant to recognize the possibility that an ancient play could have modern political meaning. While both brave and relevant to a French audience under Nazi occupation, Antigone s protest had no meaning to an American audience never held by a foreign power and free of military concerns. [ ] Antigone, which was to become a viable statement for later decades, did not appeal in 1946, or, at least, did not appeal in Jean Anouilh s updated interpretation. We cannot know if the Sophoclean text the critics claimed they missed would have had any greater popularity, for the play was not staged again in the commercial theatres of the United States for some twenty years. It was not until the 1970s Walt Spangler s set models for SCR s contemporary production of Antigone. that Sophocles script became a popular text for the commercial stage, but a 1969 production on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles by the Living Theatre might be noted. This Antigone was Judith Malina s version of Brecht s version of Holderlin s version of Sophocles Antigone, to quote Dan Sullivan s review in the Los Angeles Times (1 March 1969), which, despite its layers of authorship [was close] to the original. Sullivan continued, [The play] may be the most effective weapon the company has in spreading its message of revolution. In May 1971 the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln P6 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

5 Center opened Antigone at the Vivian Beaumont as the final offering in their season, and the critics vied in their praise of the production. What nearly every critic found important to emphasize was the play s complete relevance to the modern world. Richard Watts (New York Post, 14 May 1971) claimed it was relevant and timely, while S.K. Overbeck (Newsweek, 24 May 1971) elaborated on the theme: Antigone resonates with so much contemporary relevance one feels batted back and forth between antiquity and today s headlines Thoughts come crowding in of Sisterhood, the Panthers, the Berrigans, Weathermen, etc. and you almost expect Creon to spread his palms and say, Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Equally assertive was Stewart Klein (WNEW, 13 May 1971), who announced: Antigone burns with immediacy! Timeless in its wisdom, raw in its relevance. Its issues might have come out of today s newspapers. Should be seen by everyone, especially, by every office holder in Washington! Echoes of Anouilh s 1943 version have reappeared in more contemporary adaptations, e.g. Athol Fugard s The Island (1973), wherein prison inmates stage Antigone to point out their harsh guard s repression, or the version in Creole by Haiti s foremost poet, Felix Morisseau-Leroy. And Antigone Africanus [sic], created by Joseph Walker and staged at Howard University, transferred the story to Africa, a concept that emphasizes its universality. In the 1980s, the appeal of Antigone lay less in her battle against Creon s autocracy and more in her assertion of personal belief: the young woman is willing to die for what she holds to be true. In a world that seems to have lost its moral center, Antigone s proud struggle offers a model not found in heroines of more contemporary scripts. Sophocles Antigone has had relevance for the American theatre when the national mood favored either political resistance or the expression of personal freedom. While Antigone is a young girl, she is able to speak for those who wish to highlight women s courage and integrity. The cause for which she dies in Sophocles text, the right of burial, is no longer an issue, but her stand against political abuse of power remains a burning concern. Creon learns through suffering in this play, but it is pain that recoils upon him for his own actions, while Antigone s suicide stains the ruler s hands. Both mythic figures offer a message to any world where basic rights are trampled under political ambition. Karelisa V. Hartigan Excerpted from Greek Tragedy on the American Stage: Ancient Drama in the Commercial Theater, (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT: 1995). The Living Theatre s 1969 production of Antigone. Left, Judith Malina as Antigone mourning Polyneices. Below left, Antigone against the system. Below Malina with Julian Beck as Creon. Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P7

6 Greece and the Theatre In the sixth and fifth centuries before the birth of Christ an ancient civilization reached such heights of intellectual and artistic achievement that every succeeding period of Western culture, from the Roman Empire to the twentieth century, has been heavily in its debt, whether acknowledged or not. Those momentous years saw the beginnings of history and political theory (as well as political democracy) and the development of philosophical thought. In those years architects designed the temples which have dominated over our concept of physical building ever since, and sculptors imposed on us an ideal version of the human form which remains the point of reference even for those artists who turn against it. Not least among the achievements of this great age was the invention and perfection of an artistic medium which we take so unthinkingly for granted that we cannot imagine civilized life without it theatre. [ ] The audience was, by our standards, immense; the theatre building of the late fifth century, to judge from its ruins, could seat between fourteen and fifteen thousand spectators. They sat on rows that rise one above the other on the rocky southeastern slope of the Acropolis and border, for half of its circumference, a circular dancing floor behind which stood a wooden stage building. This was the actors changing room, where they could change masks as well as costumes, to assume a different role. [ ] The masks (which made it possible for the male actors to play female parts as well as play more than one character) were not the grotesque caricatures we know from modern theatre decorations; contemporary vase paintings show that they were naturalistic representations of types bearded king, old man, young girl, and so on. The play of facial expressions we expect from our actors was in any case ruled out in an open-air theatre where the top row of spectators was over fifty-five yards away from the stage area; individuality of character had to be created by the poet s word and the actor s delivery and gesture. By the end of the century the parts were played by professional actors, three for each tragedy, assigned to the dramatists by the magistrate in charge of the festival. A fragment of a crater, above, depicting a costumed actor holding a mask. The god of wine and theatre, Dionysus, visits a dramatic poet, left. P8 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

7 Above, a carving depicting an ancient Greek chorus, dancers and musicians celebrating an offering or perhaps war. Below, these tokens seem to be the theatre tickets of ancient Greece. The letters refer to the sections of benches. Aeschylus, the first great dramatist, acted in his own plays; Sophocles followed his example but then, we are told, abandoned the stage because his voice was not strong enough. His younger contemporary and competitor, Euripides, never, as far as we know, appeared on stage. In addition to actors and spectators, there was a third element of the performance, one older than either of these two. It was the chorus a Greek word that means dance ; the chorus of Greek tragedies sang, but it was also and has been in origin a group of dancers. The way Greek theatres are built shows how central to the performance the chorus was; the rows of stone benches one below the other all the way down the hillside focus the spectators vision not on the stage area but on the circular dancing floor. Drama as we know it was created when an Athenian named Thespis added the dance and song of the chorus to the speech of the actor. With the addition of a second actor, the performers could develop a sort of dramatic narrative actor to chorus to a dramatic relationship actor to actor or even dramatic conflict actor against actor. This second actor was introduced by Aeschylus, and it is this innovation that entitles him to be called, as he often has been, the creator of tragedy. When Sophocles later added a third actor, the complicated play of relationships between actors came to dominate the scene, reducing the role of chorus to that of commentator, where before it had been active participant. But the chorus was always there, and it has an important function: it is an emotional bridge between spectators and actors. The dramatist who composed and produced the new plays for such an occasion was in a situation unique in the history of the theatre. An audience of some fourteen thousand citizens, conscious of the religious solemnity of the occasion and the glory it reflected on the city and the individuals responsible, packed in the benches of the theatre to hear, as the sun rose, the first lines of the play. A modern reader might expect that a theatre such as this would produce drama that was, to use a cant phrase, relevant, living theatre, based on contemporary themes with no holds barred in which prominent statesmen and individual citizens were held up to ridicule in a style that few modern states would permit. But the first three plays of the day s performance were tragedy, and here, with very few exceptions, the figures who walked the stage, far from being contemporary were men, women and gods from the far-off past, from the dim beginnings of the youth of the race an age of heroes and heroines, the legends of the beginnings of the Greek world. The stuff from which the tragic poet made his plays was not contemporary reality but myth. And yet it did reflect contemporary reality, did so perhaps in terms more authoritative because they were not colored by the partisan emotions of the time, terms which were in fact so authoritative that they remain meaningful even for us today. Bernard Knox Excerpted from the Introduction to the Penguin edition of Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays (Penguin Books, New York: 1982). Amphitheatre at Epidauros, built 400 BC. Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P9

8 ALYSSA BRESNAHAN Antigone NAMBI E. KELLEY Ismene/Chorus HAL LANDON JR. Tiresias/Chorus Artist Biographies *ALYSSA BRESNAHAN (Antigone) is making her SCR debut. She has appeared in New York as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at the Classic Stage Company, Iphegenia in Iphegenia in Taurus at LaMaMa, and Madeline in The Clearing at Blue Light Theatre. At the Hartford Stage she appeared as Maxine in The Night of the Iguana, Jalena in Necessary Targets and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. Other theatre credits include The Rose Tattoo at the Goodman Theater, Three Days of Rain at the Westport Playhouse and Tantalus at the Denver Theatre Center, UK tour and Barbicon Theatre, London. Film and television appearances include an American Masters production of The Crucible (as Elizabeth Proctor), a BBC film, Playing Shakespeare (opposite Kevin Kline) and a recent guest star role on Law and Order. *NAMBI E. KELLEY (Ismene/ Chorus) is making her SCR debut. She has appeared at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago in Nikki Giovanni: New Song for a New Day and at the School at Steppenwolf in Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, The Marriage of Bette & Boo and Balm in Gilead. Other regional credits include Drowning Crow and Mirror of the Invisible World at the Goodman, The Old Settler at Long Beach Playhouse and Concerto Chicago and The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy at the Victory Gardens Theatre. Film credits include Bel Air, Whipped, Shooting Stars and Soul Food. Television credits include L.A. Dragnet, Strong Medicine, Early Edition and City of Angels. She is also a produced, published, and award winning playwright. *HAL LANDON JR. (Tiresias/Chorus) is an SCR Founding Artist who recently appeared in The Drawer Boy, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Major Barbara, Getting Frankie Married and Afterwards, The School for Wives, Much Ado about Nothing, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, The Hollow Lands, True West, Play Strindberg, Tartuffe and Ah, Wilderness! Other credits include Arcadia, Our Town, Sidney Bechet Killed a Man, BAFO, Six Degrees of Separation, An Ideal Husband, A Mess of Plays by Chris Durang, The Things You Don t Know, Faith Healer, Ghost in the Machine, Green Icebergs, Morning s at Seven, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Miser, Our Country s Good and Waiting for Godot. He created the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in SCR s A Christmas Carol, and has performed it in all 24 annual produc- P10 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

9 ALLAN LOUIS Chorus Leader HENRI LUBATTI Guard/Chorus RANDLE MELL Creon tions. He appeared in Leander Stillwell at the Mark Taper Forum and in Henry V at the Globe Theatres in San Diego. Other resident theatre roles include Salieri in Amadeus, Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Gordon Miller in Room Service. Among his film credits are Trespass, Pacific Heights, Almost an Angel, Bill and Ted s Excellent Adventure and Playing by Heart. Television credits include a recent episode of Frasier. *ALLAN LOUIS (Chorus Leader) is making his SCR debut. He has appeared in Los Angeles in Ragtime and in the Reprise! production of Hair, and in regional productions of A Raisin in the Sun (Milwaukee Repertory), Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead (Florida Shakespeare), Exit the King and Black Star Line (Goodman Theatre) and Ain t Misbehavin at M.E.T. His films include Unforgettable (as Nat King Cole), Tear it Down, Cool Crime and Pro. He has appeared on television in NYPD Blue, City of Angels, Martin, Sparks and The Jamie Foxx Show. *HENRI LUBATTI (Guard/Chorus) is making his SCR debut. He has appeared at the Old Globe as the Dauphin in Henry V, at Seattle Repertory in An Ideal Husband and An American Daughter, and at Intiman Theatre in Ghosts, among others. His film and television work includes Last Ride, Nowheresville and Prefontaine, and as a guest star on Providence, 24, Dark Angel, Spin City, The Practice, E.R. and Strong Medicine. *RANDLE MELL (Creon) is making his SCR debut. He has appeared on Broadway in Scott Ellis staging of The Rainmaker, in Zoe Caldwell s staging of Macbeth and in Michael Blakemore s Noises Off. Off-Broadway credits include The Cradle Will Rock (Drama Desk Award nomination), The Crucible, Savage in Limbo and Weekend Near Madison. Regional theatre credits include Closer at the Mark Taper Forum, The Glass Menagerie at La Jolla Playhouse, Crime and Punishment at Arena Stage and The Three Sisters at the Guthrie Theatre. His films include Cookie s Fortune, The Postman, Wyatt Earp, Grand Canyon, City of Hope, Eight Men Out and Fearless. He has appeared on television in Dragnet, 24, Kingpin, Nash Bridges and Law and Order. *JACQUES C. SMITH (Messenger/ Chorus) is happy to be making his SCR debut after having played the role of Benny in the Broadway production of Rent. He was also featured in the HBO original series OZ, where he played Leroy Tidd for two seasons. Other television credits include ER, Law & Order, PBS s Emmy-winning American Masters series Ralph Ellison: An American Journey (portraying the title character of Ellison s novel Invisible Man), The Division and the documentary Roots - Celebrating 25 Years: The Saga of an American Classic. Some of this other stage credits include work at many theatres around the country such as Paper Mill Playhouse (NJ), Coconut Grove Playhouse (FL), La Jolla Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Center, Pasadena Playhouse, San Diego Repertory and Illinois Theatre Center among others. California theatre audiences saw him most recently in the West Coast Premiere of Blue at the Pasadena Playhouse. In addition to his acting work, he is a charter member of the Broad- Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P11

10 JACQUES C. SMITH Messenger/Chorus ERIC D. STEINBERG Haemon/Chorus DEBORAH VAN VALKENBURGH Eurydice/Chorus way Inspirational Voices. He is a graduate of Princeton University (BA) and University of California, San Diego (MFA). I will lift up my eyes to the hills... *ERIC D. STEINBERG (Haemon/ Chorus) appeared at SCR in Ghost in the Machine, Ballad of Yachiyo and the Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of 99 Histories. He is an actor and artist originally from Washington, D.C. Mr. Steinberg received a B.A. in philosophy and literature from University of Vermont and two years of an MFA fellowship at UC Irvine. Since then he has worked in repertory theatre, television and film internationally. Theatre work includes many performances at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson, Actor s Theatre of Louisville, the Intiman and ACT in Seattle among others. Currently shuttling between coasts, he is happy to return to the west and SCR and to work with Kate and so many talented artists. *DEBORAH VAN VALKENBURGH (Eurydice/Chorus) appeared at SCR in If We Are Women, Old Times and Dancing at Lughnasa. Other theatre work includes Hair on Broadway and projects for Manhattan Theatre Club and La MAMA in New York City; Hello Again at the Blank Theatre Company, The First Picture Show at the Mark Taper Forum, Club Termina at LATC in Los Angeles, AARON MISAKIAN (Chorus) is making his SCR debut. Theatrical credits include The Trojan Women under the direction of Mark Wing Davey, in association with the NYU graduate program; Angels in America (Louis); and Twelfth Night at Tina Packer s Shakes & Co. Last winter he starred in the American debut of The Belgrade Trilogy. Film and television credits include 8 Simple Rules and a new independent film entitled Seafood Heaven. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors in acting from NYU/Tisch. The role of Boy is played in alternating performances by MASON ACEVEDO and CONNER THOMSEN, students in South Coast Repertory s Young Conservatory. Jumping for Joy at the Laguna Playhouse, The Beauty Queen of Leenane at San Diego Repertory, Picasso at the Lapin Agile at ACT and many other productions for theatres nationwide. Film and television work includes Too Close for Comfort, The Warriors, Streets of Fire, Rampage, Free Enterprise, Fire Starter II, Venus Conspiracy and Criminal for Clooney/Soderbergh s Section Eight. PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR & DESIGNERS BRENDAN KENNELLY (Translator) is one of Ireland s most distinguished poets. He achieved international recognition with his shocking poem, Cromwell, following this with the even more notorious Book of Judas, which topped the Irish bestsellers list. Its sequel, Poetry my Arse, out-judassed Cromwell, sinking its teeth into the pants of poetry itself. He has published over 20 other books of poetry as well as four verse plays, two novels and a substantial body of criticism. He is a renowned editor and anthologist, and is Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin. P12 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

11 KATE WHORISKEY (Director) returns to South Coast Repertory, where she directed the world premiere of Intimate Apparel last season. She has served as an Artistic Associate at La Jolla Playhouse and is currently Artistic Associate at Intiman Theatre through a TCG New Generations Grant. Her regional credits include The Rose Tattoo and the world premiere of Drowning Crow at Goodman Theatre, The Master Builder at American Repertory Theatre, Lady from the Sea and The Chairs at Intiman Theatre and Desire Under the Elms at Perseverance Theatre. She has worked with writers Regina Taylor and Michael Ondaatje. Upcoming projects include Heartbreak House at the Goodman Theatre and the world premiere of Lynn Nottage s Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons. Ms. Whoriskey is a graduate of NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and ART s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. A recipient of an NEA/TCG Director s Fellowship, she has also acted as a visiting professor at UC Davis. WALT SPANGLER (Set/Costume Design) made his SCR debut last season with Intimate Apparel. Broadway credits include Hollywood Arms. Off-Broadway credits include sets for Boston Marriage, Twelfth Night and Blue Surge (The Public Theater/NYSF); Dublin Carol, The Water Engine, The Hothouse, Mojo and An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein (Atlantic Theater Company); and The Wax (Playwrights Horizons). Regional credits include designs for The Pajama Game, Short Plays by Thornton Wilder and for colored girls... at Center Stage; Ghosts, The Winter s Tale, The Duchess of Malfi, Hedda Gabler and Coriolanus for The Shakespeare Theatre; as well as productions at The Goodman Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Yale Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Hartford Stage Company, Prince Music Theater and Goodspeed Opera. Mr. Spangler is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. SCOTT ZIELINSKI (Lighting Design) returns to SCR where he designed the world premieres of Intimate Apparel and On The Jump. He designed Topdog/Underdog for Broadway. Other New York credits include productions at Lincoln Center, Public Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Ontological- Hysteric Theater (with Richard Foreman), Signature Theatre Company, Classic Stage Company and others. Highlights of his extensive regional credits include Guthrie Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage Company, American Repertory Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Huntington Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and many others. Internationally, his designs have been seen at Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, Royal Court Theatre, and Lyric Theatre Hammersmith (London), Edinburgh Festival (Scotland), Adelaide Festival (Australia), Theatre Spektakel Zurcher, Theatre Neumarkt (Zurich), Rotterdamse Schouwburg (Rotterdam), Sommertheater Festival (Hamburg), INTRANSIT (Berlin), Schauspielhaus (Vienna), Theatre- Works (Singapore) and Fukuoka (Japan). His designs for dance include the Joyce Theater, Kennedy Center Modern Dance Festival, and American Dance Festival (with Twyla Tharp); American Ballet Theatre; National Ballet of Canada; and the San Francisco, Boston, and Kansas City ballets. Mr. Zielinski s opera credits include the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Houston Grand Opera; New York, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Berkshire Operas; Opera Colorado; Spoleto Festival USA; and others. ROB MILBURN and MICHAEL BODEEN (Composers/Sound Design) Broadway credits include music compositions and sound Bring Live Theatre to Your Elementary School! SCR s A lively and entertaining musical lesson in California history Attention Parents, Teachers and Principals! Book today! (714) JANUARY 14 - MAY 1, 2004 Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P13

12 for One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest, My Thing of Love, The Speed of Darkness and sound designs for A Year with Frog and Toad, Ma Rainey s Black Bottom, King Hedley II, Buried Child, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Song of Jacob Zulu and The Grapes of Wrath. Off Broadway includes music composition and sound for Space; Boy Gets Girl; and Marvin s Room and its productions in Chicago, Boston, L.A., D.C. and London s West End. Regionally, they have composed music or designed sound at the Goodman Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago; the Kennedy Center and Arena Stage in D.C.; the Guthrie Theatre and the Children s Theatre in Minneapolis; the Huntington Theatre in Boston; the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Public Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, Circle in the Square, Second Stage, the Union Square Theatre, the New Victory, the Minetta Lane Theatre and Playwrights Horizons in New York; The Brooklyn Academy of Music; the Alley Theatre in Houston; The Old Globe in San Diego; the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta; the McCarter Theatre in Princeton; Center Stage in Baltimore; the Dallas Theater Center; Hartford Stage Company; La Jolla Playhouse; Rhode Island s Trinity Repertory; Berkeley Repertory; Seattle Repertory; Arizona Repertory; Milwaukee Repertory; Missouri Repertory; the Repertory of St. Louis; Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven; Pittsburgh Public Theater; The Philadelphia Theatre Company; ACT in San Francisco and the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson in L.A. Internationally their work includes music or sound for the Comedy Theatre in London s West End, The Barbican Center, the National Theatre of Great Britain, the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv, the Subaru Acting Company in Japan, and festivals in Toronto, Canada, Dublin and Galway, Ireland and Sydney and Perth, Australia. Projects this season include original music, traditional arrangements and sound design for Beauty at La Jolla Playhouse, sound and music design for The Time of Your Life at Seattle Repertory and ACT in San Francisco, original music and sound for Top Dog/Underdog at Steppenwolf Theatre, the Alley Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center and Hartford Stage, and music composition and sound for Heartbreak House at the Goodman Theatre. RANDY DUNCAN (Choreographer) worked with Kate Whoriskey most recently on Amadeus at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and will work with her again later this year on Heartbreak House at the Goodman Theatre. He has the unique privilege to be a threetime recipient of Chicago s prestigious Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Choreographer of the Year. Most recently he received the 1999 Artistic Achievement Award from the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and the 1999/2000 Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best Choreography. Using elements of ballet, jazz and modern dance, he has created works for the Joffrey Ballet, River North Dance Company, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Spectrum Dance Company (Seattle), Bat Dor Dance Company of Israel and the Tennessee Children s Dance Ensemble. His musical theatre credits include choreographing and appearing in Street Dreams, West Side Story, Carousel, Hello Dolly, Don t Bother Me, I Can t Cope and Guys and Dolls. His affiliation with the Goodman Theatre has helped create critically acclaimed works such as Zoot Suit, The Rose Tattoo and Drowning Crow. Mr. Duncan recently completed his first major motion picture choreography for Paramount Pictures Save the Last Dance starring Julia Stiles, which earned him a nomination for the American Choreography Award in the Dance on Film category. An avid supporter of HIV/AIDS causes, for the past ten years he has donated his time and choreography to Dance for Life, creating world premieres for Chicago s largest dance benefit for HIV/AIDS. Mr. Duncan, an African-American who grew up in Chicago, began his dance studies with Geraldine Johnson, followed Live Theatre for your Group As easy as Choose a Play 2 Call (714) or groups@scr.org 3 Book your group! Great Savings! Group tickets begin at just $13 Personalized Service! Including show information, promotional materials and dining/reception recommendations. Theatre Discovery Project $10 tickets for students Cyrano de Bergerac May Book Today! P14 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone

13 by classes at the Sammy Dyer School of Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and Illinois State University (vocal music major), but credits Harriet Ross and Joseph Holmes with much of his inspiration. His guest classes in jazz with an African influence have taken him to England, France, Amsterdam, Israel and Mexico. He teaches at colleges, universities and high schools nationwide. You can find him on the faculty of the Chicago Academy for the Arts High School. You may also find him sitting on the panels of the NEA, IAC and Arts Midwest. JENNIFER KIGER (Dramaturg) joined the SCR staff in 1999 and became Literary Manager in In that capacity she screens scripts for development and production and serves as dramaturg on half of SCR s workshops and productions each season. She is also the associate director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. Recent projects include Nilo Cruz s Anna in the Tropics, the world premiere of The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones, Lucinda Coxon s Nostalgia, Amy Freed s The Beard of Avon and the site-specific California Scenarios, directed by Juliette Carrillo. Previously, she served as dramaturg at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA for several productions, including In the Jungle of Cities directed by Robert Woodruff, Phaedra directed by Liz Diamond, the world premieres of Robert Coover s Charlie in the House of Rue and Mac Wellman s Hypatia directed by Bob McGrath, and Robert Brustein s adaptation of The Master Builder directed by Kate Whoriskey. She completed her professional training as a dramaturg at the ART Institute at Harvard and taught acting and dramatic arts at Harvard University. *RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Manager) is pleased to be part of SCR s 40th Season and well into his 14th season with the company. This season he has worked on The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Terra Nova. Last season he stage managed Major Barbara, Proof and Intimate Apparel. Two seasons ago he had the pleasure of working on Getting Frankie Married and Afterwards, The School for Wives, The Homecoming and The Circle. During his long association as one of SCR s resident stage managers he has worked on more than a dozen world premieres and has been associated with over 65 productions. In 1997, Mr. Lum stage managed the AIDS Benefit Help is on the Way III at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Other stage management credits include the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Jose Civic Light Opera, VITA Shakespeare Festival, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Long Beach Ballet, San Francisco Convention Bureau and Kawasaki Motorcycles. He would like everyone to take a moment to remember all those who have lost the battle and all those still suffering and fighting the AIDS epidemic. *SCOTT HARRISON (Assistant Stage Manager) has been with SCR for fourteen seasons and most recently stage managed A Christmas Carol. Mr. Harrison would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and continuously support his friends and colleagues who are battling the fight of AIDS. This summer, along with Jamie A. Tucker, he will be participating in Paradise AIDS Ride, a fundraising cycling tour of Hawaii. DAVID EMMES (Producing Artistic Director) is co-founder of SCR, one of the largest professional resident theatres in California. He has received numerous awards for productions he has directed during SCR s 39-year history, including a 1999 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the direction of George Bernard Shaw s The Philanderer. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed s The Beard of Avon and Freedomland, Thomas Babe s Great Day in the Morning, Keith Reddin s Rum and Coke and But Every kid s favorite school live onstage for the whole family! Adapted by John Olive from Louis Sachar s Wayside School Novels February 13-22, Low-priced previews begin February 6 Call (714) or buy online at Antigone SOUTH COAST REPERTORY P15

14 Not for Me and Neal Bell s Cold Sweat; the American premiere of Terry Johnson s Unsuitable for Adults; the West Coast premieres of C.P. Taylor s Good and Harry Kondoleon s Christmas on Mars; and the Southland premiere of Top Girls (at SCR and the Westwood Playhouse). Other productions include the West Coast premieres of Three Viewings by Jeffrey Hatcher, The Secret Rapture by David Hare and New England by Richard Nelson; and Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ayckbourn s Woman in Mind and Relatively Speaking and You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw, which he restaged for the Singapore Festival of Arts. His producing responsibilities involve the overall coordination of SCR s programs and projects. He has served as a consultant to the Orange County Performing Arts Center and as a theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has served on the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theatres, and as a panelist for the California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast College, he received his BA and MA from California State University, San Francisco, and his PhD in theatre and film from USC. MARTIN BENSON (Artistic Director) shares co-founder credit and artistic leadership of SCR with his colleague David Emmes. As one of SCR s chief directors, Mr. Benson has directed nearly one third of the plays produced here in the last 39 years. He has distinguished himself in the staging of contemporary work, including Horton Foote s The Carpetbagger s Children and the world premiere of his Getting Frankie Married and Afterwards, the critically acclaimed California premiere of William Nicholson s Shadowlands, Athol Fugard s Playland, Brian Friel s Dancing at Lughnasa, David Mamet s Oleanna, Harold Pinter s The Homecoming, David Hare s Skylight and the West Coast premieres of Peter Hedges Good As New and Martin McDonagh s The Lonesome West. He has won accolades for his direction of five major works by George Bernard Shaw, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award winners Major Barbara, Misalliance and Heartbreak House. Among the numerous world premieres he has directed are Tom Strelich s BAFO and Margaret Edson s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Alley Theatre in Houston. He has directed American classics including Ah, Wilderness!, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Delicate Balance and All My Sons. Mr. Benson has been honored with the Drama- Logue Award for his direction of 21 productions and received LADCC Distinguished Achievement in Directing awards an unparalleled seven times for the three Shaw productions, John Millington Synge s Playboy of the Western World, Arthur Miller s The Crucible, Sally Nemeth s Holy Days and Wit. He also directed the film version of Holy Days using the original SCR cast. Along with David Emmes, he accepted SCR s 1988 Tony Award for Outstanding Resident Professional Theatre and won the 1995 Theatre LA Ovation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Mr. Benson received his BA in Theatre from California State University, San Francisco. PAULA TOMEI (Managing Director) is responsible for the overall administration of South Coast Repertory and has been Managing Director since A member of the SCR staff since 1979, she has served in a number of administrative capacities including Subscriptions Manager, Business Manager and General Manager. She currently serves as President of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for the professional not-for-profit theatre. In addition, she has served as Treasurer of TCG, Vice President of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and has been a member of the LORT Negotiating Committee for industry-wide union agreements. She represents SCR at national conferences of TCG and LORT; is a theatre panelist and site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council; served on the Advisory Committee for the Arts Administration Certificate Program at the University of California, Irvine; and has been a guest lecturer in the graduate school of business at Stanford. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a degree in Economics and pursued an additional course of study in theatre and dance. The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound Designers in LORT theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE. The Director is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union. P16 SOUTH COAST REPERTORY Antigone